


Unexpected Escalation

by Lavavulture



Series: Cadash Is Actually a Tender Poet (which explains all the booze) [2]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: M/M, Schmoop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-10
Updated: 2015-08-10
Packaged: 2018-04-14 01:52:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4545651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lavavulture/pseuds/Lavavulture
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[Kink meme fill] After a close call Cole and Iron Bull have life-affirming sex.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unexpected Escalation

**Author's Note:**

> While these stories are only loosely connected by virtue of having a male!Cadash as the Inquisitor, this would probably take place a few months after [Riding the Dragon High](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3803254) and a few months before [Kriegspiel](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3729979). The prompt requested that Iron Bull realize that he's got more feels than he thought when Cole almost dies and this is what happened. It's fluffy as fuck, you guys, brush your teeth after.

“Damn giants. How do they keep sneaking up on us?” Cadash said in a low growl, kicking the leg of the felled giant they’d barely managed to take down. His motions caused several rocks to tumble down the ravine next to the giant’s body. He glared up as though his Companions were secretly in cahoots with lumbering giants and not telling him.

“They’re surprisingly agile.” Blackwell strapped his axe onto his back. He sniffed speculatively. “And don’t smell as bad as you would think they would.”

“You might be the only one that thinks that,” Iron Bull said, working out the last kinks in his arms from swinging his hammer around. Despite the soreness he felt pretty good. Actually he felt great, complete with the growing excitement that usually followed a hard fight. 

Thankfully the Inquisitor had brought Cole along with them on their little hunting trip, which had ended up being more an excuse to drink and tell extravagant stories than to actually hunt. Cadash had originally intended to bring Sera but she’d come down with a cold that made her even pricklier than normal so he’d turned to Cole with the intention of teaching him how to grow a manly beard. 

That part didn’t seem to be working despite the dwarf’s insistence that all it took was willpower but it had worked out pretty well for Iron Bull. Ever since the night when they had first killed a dragon and Iron Bull had first fucked Cole to within an inch of his life, they’d been coming together pretty regularly. Iron Bull thought that it was a great way to relieve stress since the kid was pretty wild in the sack once he got going. And it barely took anything to get him going.

Iron Bull turned around, ready to grab himself a little ass and celebrate, but surprisingly Cole wasn’t there. It was odd since he nearly always stayed behind Iron Bull when they fought together. Iron Bull looked to Blackwall and Cadash since Cole had had more options with warriors than he normally did, but he wasn’t tucked near either of them.

“Hey, where’s Cole?” Iron Bull looked around, certain he was going to see the spirit already distracted with something completely innocuous like a big rock or tree moss. He was nowhere to be seen.

“Hmmm?” Cadash turned in a circle and swore. “Dammit, boy, you better not pop up behind me again!”

“He’s not here,” Iron Bull said firmly. Cole was often unintentionally spooky but he wasn’t the type to play games on people.

“Maker’s arse,” Blackwall said suddenly, peering down the ravine they fought the giant beside. “The lad’s fallen.”

There were several moments at this point that would be a blur to Iron Bull later. He remembered lots of shouting, some from him but mostly from Cadash, and frantic running towards the edge of the ravine. There was a horrible moment when he looked down the chasm and saw Cole on a ledge, flat on his back and paler than usual. He wasn’t far down but he wasn’t moving and something in Iron Bull felt like it was tearing right through him.

“Kid?” Iron Bull felt like he was shouting because the word echoed in his head but he realized that he’d whispered it. Cole couldn’t be dead. Demons didn’t die from falling a few feet, especially not demons that snuck cinnamon into Iron Bull’s hot milk-chocolate mix and rubbed his sore ankle at night even though he’d never complained about it.

Cadash immediately hopped down the ravine to the ledge, startling Iron Bull out of his unexpected shock and making Blackwall swear.

“You could’ve sent the whole ledge crumbling down, you daft dwarf!” Blackwall shouted and Cadash gave him a rude gesture. 

“Enough of this, boy. It was only a little giant.” Despite his words Cadash’s hands were gentle on Cole as he leaned over. There was another long, horrible moment before Cole suddenly coughed violently.

“Praise the Maker,” Blackwall said quietly and clapped Iron Bull on the back. 

“There we go.” Cadash helped Cole sit up, carefully feeling along his back. Iron Bull wanted to jump down and check for himself that Cole was all right but the ledge was too small for the three of them. “You gave us all a scare there, boy. What happened?”

“I’m sorry,” Cole said, still coughing. Cadash pulled out one of his flasks—this one actually filled with water—and Cole took a long drink. “Everything moved so fast and then I couldn’t breathe.”

“You got the wind knocked out of you. Happens to the best of us.” Cadash grinned broadly. “You’ve got some damned luck though. If you’d fallen a bit more over, you’d be flat as a board right now.”

“Oh,” Cole peered over the ledge curiously, seemingly untroubled by the close call he’d had.

However Cadash’s words sent a fresh wave of that indescribable something flowing through Iron Bull. Cole could be dead right now. By all rights he should have been.

“Let’s find some rope to get those two back up,” Blackwall said to Iron Bull and he nodded slowly, not trusting himself to say anything. 

 

Later that night after Cadash had sung all of his seemingly infinite number of victory songs and fallen asleep with his beard in his oversized flagon, Iron Bull led Cole to their shared tent. 

He’d smiled and celebrated with the others because it was what he should do but the entire night he’d found it impossible to keep from looking over at Cole to make sure that he was still there. He had been, of course, maybe moving a little stiffer than normally but otherwise happy and attentive to everyone that came near him. Iron Bull’s hands twitched helplessly at his sides every time their eyes met and Cole smiled at him, small and comforting.

Iron Bull was desperate to have him in his arms, to feel along every part of him and know that he was safe and whole.

Cole clearly felt the same way since the moment their tent flap went down, he was pressing his cool mouth against Iron Bull, sighing when he was kissed back. Iron Bull wrapped his arms around him and kissed him fiercely until one of his large hands gripped at Cole’s side and he heard a little gasp of pain.

He pulled away immediately, ignoring Cole’s murmured protests. “Where’s it hurt?”

“It’s not bad,” Cole said, trying to press against him again with little success. “Hurting can be good in sex.”

“Not this kind,” Iron Bull said firmly. The two of them had enjoyed some destructive, almost violent fucking since they’d started and normally Iron Bull was all about it. But tonight the idea that Cole could be in pain was unthinkable. He pulled at Cole’s shirt. “Come on, take this off and let me look.”

Cole almost pouted and that was a sight that nearly soothed the roaring beast that had taken up residence in Iron Bull’s head since the fall. However the ugly bruise on his side and reaching around his front made the beast louder.

“Fuck,” Iron Bull muttered and dropped to his knees.

“It wasn’t an ending,” Cole said, reaching out to Iron Bull’s horns and tugging lightly on them. “I flew, fell, and now I’m fine. You don’t have to ache for me.”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Iron Bull said, pressing his face to Cole’s stomach and breathing steadily. “You have to be more careful. Got me?”

“I made you hurt but I didn’t mean to.” Cole sounded miserable. 

“I know, Kid,” Iron Bull said, soothingly. He nuzzled against the firm muscles on Cole’s stomach. He paused a moment, pressing his forehead against the hot skin. “You can’t help this hurt right now. I have to figure it out.”

The Qunari didn’t mix love and sex together. It was close to obscene beyond just being wasteful. Iron Bull had left behind many of his people’s precepts, even before he’d officially left behind his people, but he’d never broken that rule. He felt affection for the people he had sex with, certainly, but his feelings had never grown deeper and he’d never thought they could.

So the fact that he felt like losing this skinny, awkward demon would be the worst thing that could possibly happen to him was absolutely mind-boggling. He wanted to do a million things, some of which were just various forms of running away, but mostly he wanted to gather Cole up against him and keep him so safe that nothing could ever even potentially hurt him again.

“That’s good,” Cole said, tilting his head. His hands slid down Iron Bull’s horns to stroke at the rough skin on his head. Iron Bull closed his eye under the caress. “Isn’t it? People hurt. Other people make the hurting better. Varric said that it’s how it should be.”

“I think I might be in love with you,” Iron Bull said, sounding more resigned than overjoyed.

“Yes?” Cole was peering at him with open bewilderment. “I love you and you love me and we make the hurting smaller together.”

Iron Bull chuckled. Relief was starting to take the place of his confusion. At least Cole was constant in his unexpectedness. “You already got it all figured out, Kid?”

Cole nodded slowly. “I didn’t know you were confused. I’m sorry. Next time I’ll tell you when you love someone.”

“I don’t know if there’s going to be a next time.” Iron Bull neatly stopped whatever thought Cole had about that by licking along the dark edges of the bruise. Cole gasped, this time in something more complicated than pain. “I think I’m going to be feeling this for a long time.”

 

Cole moaned as he came under Iron Bull’s patient tongue, hands gripping his horns like he’d been told. It was more to steady him than anything else, since Cole was prone to active squirming when Iron Bull got any part of himself near him, but it was still arousing to feel the strength in his lean arms. His strong, wild demon. _His_.

“Oh,” Cole said with a soft grunt. His legs wobbled and Iron Bull pulled away, gathering him up in an easy motion. He went over to their bedroll and carefully settled a loose-limbed Cole on the nest of blankets and pillows he’d borrowed from the rest of the camp. Cole watched with lidded, satisfied eyes as Iron Bull pulled off his own clothes.

Their fucking had never felt like this before. It had been deeply satisfying before to be sure, much more intense than Iron Bull would have ever imagined it could be. Cole was more than just a giving lover, he was a worshipful one, eager to please and unabashed in his desire to explore all of the sensations that his new body experienced. 

However now just the simplest movements made Iron Bull feel awed, almost humbled. He’d taken Cole’s long cock into his mouth and teased release from him, easy as could be, and that act had felt like benediction. He was almost shaking as he went back down to his knees and stared down at Cole’s long body, wanting.

“You’re already inside me,” Cole said thoughtfully, reaching out his hand to Iron Bull’s chest. “Love feels different when it’s mine.”

“Yeah,” Iron Bull said, almost shortly. He kissed Cole because talking was too messy for what he felt. His heart was beating furiously against Cole’s hand. “All of this feels different.”

He urged Cole onto his back, contemplating the dark bruise on his side, glaring at the heavy gash on his leg. He pressed his palm gently to the bruise, feeling the bone underneath, reassuring himself. Cole didn’t protest what had to hurt, keeping his trusting eyes steady on Iron Bull’s face.

“You’re going to stay nice and still for me,” Iron Bull ordered. He reached for a jar of slippery oil and poured a helping handful out, way more than he would normally use even with his generous cock.

Despite his command Cole shifted restlessly when Iron Bull pushed his cock inside him. He threw one of his arms above his head and made a pained noise when it pulled at his side.

“That’s not still, _kadan_ ,” Iron Bull said. The word slipped out before he even heard it in his head, already familiar and comfortable. 

“I just want more of you in me now,” Cole said in sweet, sure Qunlat. Iron Bull swore, clutching at the base of his cock. 

“Be careful with that,” he warned, gritting his teeth against his near release.

“The Iron Bull, please,” Cole murmured, moving his hips. “It’s burning, wide and warm. I need more.”

Despite Cole’s words and the slight, beautiful movements of his body, Iron Bull managed to gain control of himself. He reached down and took a firm hold of Cole’s hips, stilling him.

“I’ll give you more,” he promised. “But you have to let me take care of you. Do you trust me?”

“Yes,” Cole said before he even got the question completely out. 

“Good boy.” Iron Bull’s lips curled into a warm, happy smirk before he pushed the rest of the way inside that tight heat.

Cole let out a heartbreaking moan that continued until Iron Bull was nestled in as far as he could go. Then he was panting, short and eager, as Iron Bull slowly pulled out and then pressed back in, letting each inch linger as he moved. Cole’s spine curved painfully and Iron Bull’s eye narrowed.

“Can’t have that.” Iron Bull pushed in firmly and then slid his arms around Cole’s body. He carefully pulled him up so that Cole was resting against his broad chest, his weight totally supported by Iron Bull’s big hands. “Put your arms around my neck.”

Cole nodded quickly, his breath coming in halted bursts at the new angle. He wrapped his arms around Iron Bull and pushed his face into the crook of his thick neck.

Iron Bull tested this new position, easily lifting Cole up and then back down on his thick cock, commanding complete control over their movements. Cole whined low in his throat and Iron Bull took that as a sign that he wasn’t in pain. He began moving steadily, slow and deep thrusts.

“You don’t have to worry,” Cole said and then moaned. Iron Bull felt Cole’s teeth work briefly on an old scar on his shoulder. Cole dragged his mouth up to Iron Bull’s ear. “I’ll protect you.”

Iron Bull huffed out what could have been a laugh except that he knew Cole was deadly serious. He pushed in hard and Cole clenched around him. Iron Bull pulled back enough to get at Cole’s mouth, kissing him with all of the pent-up fear he’d had inside.

“I know you will, Kid,” he said and let go of everything except the man in his arms.


End file.
